The record will show that on May 3, 1997, Bermuda won their first Davis Cup Zonal championship.

What it won't show is the pride, character and intensity that went into it.

With home court at their feet and raucous home fans at their back, Bermuda -- on the strength of a stunning doubles victory by Ricky Mallory and Michael Way -- defeated the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States 2-1 in the final tie of the American Zone Group IV tournament at the Southampton Princess.

It was Bermuda's second win in three days and clinched promotion into Group III next year. In Saturday's Group III final held on an adjoining court, Guatemala defeated Jamaica 3-0, although both nations advance to Group II next year.

Bermuda's win had all the makings of being anti-climactic. After all, OECS lost a day earlier to Costa Rica -- a team Bermuda beat on Thursday. Moreover, in the same tie they had also lost one of their top players, Glynne James, to a torn achilles tendon.

So when James Collieson went out and opened the day by taking less than an hour to crush OECS' Gary Eugene 6-2, 6-2, Bermuda fans were half-way into their celebrating.

Except someone forgot to tell Vernon Lewis. The OECS number one dampened the festivities with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Donald Evans, then teamed up with Eugene to send Mallory and Way reeling in the deciding doubles match.

Trailing 1-4 and then 3-5, Bermuda rallied to take the first set 7-5. And in a see-saw second set that included four straight games that went to three advantage points off deuce, Mallory and Way twice fought off set point, blew a 3-0 advantage in the tiebreaker -- then scored four of the next five points to win 7-6 (4) to cause eruption in a crowd that was already beside itself.

"The crowd didn't give them a chance to get down on themselves,'' said Bermuda non-playing captain Steve Bean. "They fed off the crowd.'' Among the biggest cheers were from the Costa Rican team, who also advanced to Group III with Bermuda's win. OECS remain in Group IV, although non-playing captain John Easter said afterwards they were "undaunted'' by the defeat; the squad is made up predominantly of St. Lucians and the Caribbean Island has already been accepted by the ITF to go solo next year and will be placed in Group IV.

Easter was missing his top two players -- Kane Easter and Henri Simpson -- because of US university exams. Lewis couldn't close a match against a Costa Rican then James went down in the deciding doubles, forcing Easter to use Lewis and the untested Eugene twice on Saturday.

"I don't know how much more of a hard-luck story you want,'' he said.

But fatigue wasn't a factor, he said. His opponents were.

"Bermuda showed a lot of character,'' said Bean.

It was Bean was who made the gutsy decision to hold Way -- a veteran of Bermuda's previous two Davis Cup appearances -- in reserve for doubles during both ties. On Saturday, he was glad he did.

"I wouldn't want to be in a position not to have Michael out there,'' Bean said.

Like Mallory on Thursday, Collieson made him look like a genius. After struggling with Eugene's serve in the first two games, the flamboyant 20-year-old unloaded, taking five straight games and breaking the lefthander in the fifth and seventh.

"I haven't hit a lefty in at least a year so it took some time to get used to it,''said Collieson.

It was more of the same in the second set, with Collieson taking 2-0 and 4-1 leads before putting Eugene away with three straight service winners in the final game.

Collieson's fitness and baseline game had him prepared "to grind it out'' but he wasn't complaining. "I'm missing school for this so I didn't come here not to win,'' said Collieson.

Evans is a guy who usually grinds it out but he never got untracked against Lewis. Fans had barely settled in their seats when Lewis, who beat Evans in three sets in Bermuda's Davis Cup debut two years ago, had jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

In a battle of serve-and-volleyers, Lewis was continually a step quicker. Down 2-4, Evans produced a memorable seventh game, whipping a blind backhand passing shot that even his opponent applauded and climbing to break point.

But Lewis held on and Evans had nothing more left. He was shut out on his serve to lose the first set and scored a total of seven points in falling behind 1-4 in the second.

Photos by Tony Cordeiro HOT SHOTS -- Ricky Mallory's acrobatics (above) helped lift Bermuda to a doubles -- and the Davis Cup American Zone Group IV -- victory over OECS on Saturday. The team are (below, from left) non-playing captain Steve Bean, James Collieson, Michael Way, Mallory and Donald Evans.